Red sandalwood smuggling- AP police arrest 63 smugglers

Seshachalam, April 12: The Andhra Pradesh police has arrested 63 smugglers who were part of the group, which was undertaking smuggling of red sandalwood at the Seshachalam hill range last week. The AP police says that the investigations have revealed that this is a major group which was undertaking smuggling of re sandalwood.

Last week the AP police had shot dead 20 persons alleged to be chopping red sandalwood trees in the Seshachalam hill range. There were lot of questions raised about this operation which had led to a verbal duel between the AP and Tamil Nadu government.

Bonfaide operation, says AP:

The AP government has maintained that operation undertaken last week was a genuine one. They said‎ the red sandalwood smuggling is a major racket and all the smugglers were sent from Tamil Nadu.

An AP police officer informed oneindia that the arrest of the 63 persons is connected to the last week's incident. They were all part of the same group and we are trying to find their mastermind the official also added while statin‎g that this had international ramifications.

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